Author

Date of Graduation

Document Type

Degree Name

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

History

Advisor

Jeannie Whayne

Committee Member

Daniel E. Sutherland

Second Committee Member

Patrick G. Williams

Keywords

Social sciences, Arkansas, Civil War, Ozarks, Unionists

Abstract

More than a thousand men from northwest Arkansas served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The conflict devastated a region that had previously enjoyed impressive economic growth. The years of suffering during the war eventually left the region largely depopulated. As people returned to the region after the war was over, unionists and their families fought not only to rebuild, but to secure the benefits they felt their loyalty to the federal government deserved. As unionists became Republicans in the decades after the war, Arkansas became a securely Democratic state. But Arkansas’s native Republicans leveraged their wartime loyalty into a unique relationship with the federal government that secured for them restitution for wartime losses, pensions for wartime service, and political appointments through the patronage system.

Recommended Citation

Howard, Rebecca Ann, "Civil War Unionists and Their Legacy in the Arkansas Ozarks" (2015). Theses and Dissertations. 1426.
http://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1426